Syd and Steve Lacy, voices of The Internet, chase the same quiet cool

The threat of drifting apart has always loomed over The Internet.The fusionist funk band emerged as a post-Odd Future fever dream, an artistic hydra whose abundance of cooks never seemed to take away from its relaxed and artful blend of R&B, rap, jazz and neo-soul, bubbling and alchemical as if brewed in a single smoldering cauldron.

But ever since landing a surprise Grammy nomination for its third album, 2015's Ego Death, the group has wrestled with competing drives: following independent ambitions on the one hand, staying connected on the other.A 2016 Fader cover story highlighted this ethos of simultaneous collectivism and self-sufficiency, the members adamant about remaining a unit despite going on hiatus to pursue individual projects.

When Ego Death's follow-up emerged in 2018, it was literally called Hive Mind; "They gon' get us to come together," went the opening hook.Yet as the title hinted, the unspoken strain was less about keeping the lineup intact and more about maintaining a delicate creative equity, where no one member's creative vision ever overshadows the others.They haven't come together since then, in large part because of the mounting solo responsibilities pulling them apart.

Singer and de facto leader Syd released her sophomore album, Broken Hearts Club, in 2022, and has co-written for Beyoncé twice.Co-founding producer and keyboardist Matt Martians has released four albums of his own, one entirely self-produced.

And in the midst of a second, more extended group hiatus, the band underwent an unexpected dynamic shift: Its most junior member, the singer and guitarist Steve Lacy, suddenly became its most famous overnight, when TikTok turned his 2022 single "Bad Habit" into one of the biggest success stories of an era.Martians and bassist Patrick Paige II serve as The Internet's sonic cornerstones, but Syd and Lacy are its main characters.Syd is the frontperson, the fulcrum upon which the songs primarily turn; Lacy is the X factor, his addi...